The SCHURTER Group 2011: Sales maintained, but with a slight decline in profit

Lucerne, 5 April 2012. The SCHURTER Group, active in the electronics industry as a supplier, was just able to maintain the sales level with CHF 190.4 million (- 1.6%) in 2011. However, the extensively export-oriented company was contending with a difficult currency exchange situation for the entire year, which due to the negative margin development, also had a negative impact on profit and cash flow. The head count remained stable with more than 1’600 employees.

The SCHURTER group along with its 18 subsidiaries worldwide started with strong sales and profit figures in the first half of 2011. However, from the middle of the year, the incoming orders decreased considerably. The significant lower sales in the second half of the year as well as the strong Swiss Franc had a lasting negative impact on the profit and loss account as well as on the balance sheet. In addition, towards the end of the year the incoming orders plummeted.

The three divisions of the SCHURTER group developed differently. The export-oriented division „Components“ had to accept a decline in sales by 4.4% to CHF 132.2 million. The division „Input Systems“, however, benefited from the continuing strong economic situation in the German speaking markets and increased its sales by 7.2% to CHF 38.0 million. The smallest of the three divisions, the „EMS“ division, had to cope with overly-extended delivery times for preliminary products which resulted in a decline in sales by 5.2% to CHF 20.2 million. The division „EMS“ practically only operates in Switzerland and Italy.

The result was extensively influenced by the strong Swiss Franc and the consequent deteriorating margins as well as by high operative depreciations. This amounted to CHF 7.5 million (3.9%) and the cash flow to CHF 16.1 million (8.4%). The comparison of both values to the previous year is limited, as the changeover of the accounting standard from OR to Swiss GAAP FER took place in 2011.

The number of employees remained stable with 1’658 persons, of which 514 are employed in Switzerland and 1’144 abroad.

As a family-owned enterprise with more than 1’600 employees worldwide, it is of utmost importance to the SCHURTER Group to continuously encourage innovations in the electronic components field and thus to preserve employment.